Particle accelerators are used to increase the energy of electrically-charged particles, e.g., electrons, protons, or charged atomic nuclei. High energy electrically-charged particles can be used in various application. For example, high energy electrically-charged particles can accelerated to collide with a target such as atoms or molecules to break up the nuclei of the target atoms or molecules and interact with other particles. The resulting products are observed with a detector. At very high energies the accelerated charged particles can cause transformations in a target caused by the collision which can be used to discern the nature and behavior of fundamental units of matter. Particle accelerators are also important tools in the effort to develop nuclear fusion devices, and in medical applications such as proton therapy for cancer treatment, which is also known as hadron therapy.
In various applications, the beam of the charged particles output by an accelerator may be scanned to change its direction. For example, such beam scanning is desirable in directing protons to desired regions in a target tissue in proton cancer treatment such as the Intensity Modulated Hadron Therapy. Some hadron therapy centers place a mask in front of the patient to manipulate the distribution of the dose deposited in the tumor. However, neutron generation in the mask is a concern for secondary cancers. In some hadron therapy techniques that are free of masks, beam scanning is carried out through a combination of mechanical movement of the machine and/or the patient's bed and a large bending magnet at the end of the hadron machine. These types of scanning systems are large in size and heavy in weight. Additionally, it may be difficult to quickly change scan settings for the robotic couch/bed, the machine or the bending magnets, thus rendering beam scanning unpractical during a single treatment session.